When did you know you wanted to be a mountain guide?

I value being very honest and comfortably vulnerable, and my answer to this question is no different. Looking back, however,my initial reason for pursuing guiding was quite inauthentic. My childhood required me to be strong. In the face of challenges, I learned to wear a mask to make others see something I didn’t believe myself to be; strong, worthy, and capable. The most honest impetus for my wanting to pursue guiding was to prove myself. What better way to do that than to become a big bad mountain guide? It’s been an incredible journey from feeling like I needed to prove who I thought I wasn’t, to wholly becoming the person I wanted everyone to believe I was.

What does it mean to be a certified splitboard guide?

Grit and curiosity! Many countries don’t accommodate splitboarding as an acceptable mode of travel to train in formal mountain guide programs. It’s great that the AMGA has allowed splitboards on ski guide programs, even though the IFMGA hasn't yet integrated it. The process of becoming a certified splitboard guide is long, intense, and expensive. But beyond the formal training, being a certified Splitboard Guide has largely meant a lot of improvising and solution generation.

That is to say, splitboard-specific mentorship was never really available to me until recent years leading up to my final exam, soI've had to figure out solutions to many challenges on my own. Movement in the mountains on a splitboard is very different from skis, so there is a lot of grit and curiosity required to stick with it and creatively play around with ways to use the tool and learn the nuances of how to use the terrain, when to ski, and when to snowboard. Through years of training and guiding, I've discovered that it's not an inferior tool, but often a better tool since you have the benefit of two modes of travel with one piece of equipment.

You've climbed and skied around the world. What is your favorite place?

Last winter I spent a month in Golden, BC, Canada riding Rogers Pass and the surrounding mountain ranges. The snowpack allows for riding some of the most incredible terrain. Coming from Colorado's typically shallow and faceted snowpack, it will always blow my mind when I can confidently ride steep mid-season powder. Counting pennies toward last season's splitboard guide exam didn’t leave much room to travel much further, so one of the things I’m most looking forward to as I continue to grow as a mountain guide and athlete is to travel to splitboard farther and bigger mountain ranges.

How has your approach to the mountains changed over your guiding career?

I used to be very goal-focused with my approach to the mountains, whether meeting client expectations, ticking off an objective for my AMGA resume, getting in vert for fitness, scouting for an upcoming day of guiding, or personal summit fever. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received was to remember to make time for fun days, and it’s changed so much for me.

Now I look at mountains with a lot more unplanned playful curiosity. One of my favorite games is something I call “Point and Shoot”. I point to a summit I want to stand on top of and then figure out how to get there with any combination of skill sets required. It requires a lot of trust in my abilities to plan, read, and move through terrain. It's become such a fun way to explore without expectations, taking in all the lessons the mountains will teach me.

What conditions are you looking for when deciding to enter or avoid avalanche terrain?

The more I’ve grown in my career, the more weight I place on the elementary basics like stepping back when you see red flags and avoiding trigger points and terrain traps. Reading accident reports, it’s disheartening to realize how many accidents begin with folks not recognizing these basics. So before entering avalanche terrain, aside from my typical pre-trip planning, I consciously give more weight to recent large avalanches. I find out how many have occurred on which aspects and elevations, and make my plan to avoid similar terrain. Throughout the day, I look for reasons to step back, particularly:

Even if my plan to step out survives that line of questioning, I still ensure I can confidently avoid trigger points and terrain traps on the descent.

Why do you use Safeback SBX?

I work actively to set myself up to make the right decision. This plays out in so many small ways like packing the axe if there’s a chance you’ll need it, and clipping a bight of your stuffed rope to the outside of your pack so you can deploy it without removing your pack. Safeback SBX reduces the friction to make the right decision. It weighs so little that there is no reason for me to leave it at home.

How does SBX fit into your understanding of snow safety?

I like Reason’s Swiss Cheese Model to understand how to approach tools that reduce risk. Everything we do from training to pre-trip planning to equipment selection are all tools to reduce our risk. We can think of each tool as a piece of Swiss cheese– no layer is without its holes. For every layer we stack, there's less chance that the holes can align allowing a hazard to pass through. To me, the SBX system is the final layer of risk reduction should an accident occur. SBX being so light and with a well-researched ability to delay asphyxiation in an avalanche burial, it’s a no-brainer to keep it on the list of items I carry daily. It has become just as essential to my kit as my transceiver, shovel, and probe.